


Be Persistent

by believesinponds



Series: Persistence [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:35:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/believesinponds/pseuds/believesinponds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry's newfound connection to the speedforce takes him to a world where things are a lot different than he expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Persistent

Barry didn’t think he was running faster than usual, but something definitely felt different. _More_. Somehow he felt better connected to the speedforce, like he was tapping into something tangible and powerful and...living. It was a heady feeling, and even though he had finished up his nightly patrol and really should head home for some sleep, he just couldn’t bring himself to stop.

So he ran. He concentrated on that connection and he ran for nearly an hour, just for the hell of it.

It wasn’t his fault, then, that he was rather oblivious to the world around him. He was tired, he was hungry, and he was still a little buzzed from experiencing the speedforce in such a new way. Which meant that when he walked through the front door and pushed the cowl down from his face he didn’t notice the strange combination of adult and children’s shoes in the entryway or the new pictures hanging on the wall. And he definitely didn’t notice the man sitting in one of the armchairs drinking cocoa until he spoke up.

“You’re home late.”

Barry whipped his head around, startled at first and then angry. For real? This guy was gonna break into his house _again_? He zoomed forward, grabbing him by his shirt, and pressed him against the fireplace. (And wasn’t that some serious deja vu?)

“Snart,” he snarled, eyes narrowing dangerously. “What the hell are you doing in my house?”

The other man was giving him a calculating look. He didn’t say anything, just examined Barry with his eyes. It was starting to piss him off. Barry tightened his grip, pressing him further into the mantle, and waited for the telltale sound of a cold gun powering up. But the sound never came, and Barry glanced down to find that Leonard Snart was unarmed and…

And wearing reindeer pajamas?

He immediately dropped his grip on Snart’s shirt and took a small step back. The man was wearing reindeer pajamas and a familiar-looking S.T.A.R. Labs shirt.

What?

“Something’s not right,” Barry muttered.

Snart raised an eyebrow.

“What are you doing in my house, Snart?” he asked again, this time out of confusion rather than anger.

“I’m...not sure if I should answer that.”

Barry huffed. “This has got to be some kind of weird dream. Right? I ran too much and now I’m passed out in an alley somewhere having a bizarre dream.”

Snart actually laughed at that. “I don’t think this is a dream, b--Barry.”

Barry sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I was afraid of that.”

He must have somehow unknowingly run through one of the wormholes and into another dimension. A weird, confusing dimension where Leonard Snart was waiting for him when he got home from patrols. It was the only explanation.

Except, just then another version of him phased right through the front door.

“Hey, babe, sorry I’m--oh.” The new Barry (or, the original Barry on this Earth) looked understandably surprised to see himself. But then his eyes widened and he said, “Oh shit. Tonight?”

That was...not the reaction Barry had been expecting.

“Apparently,” Snart replied, and the two men shared a look that suggested some kind of understanding.

“Anyone care to share with the rest of the class?” Barry asked, looking back and forth between the two men as they somehow communicated silently. Maybe they had telepathy on this world.

“This is the first time something like this has happened, right?” Other Barry asked, pushing his own mask down and walking toward them slowly.

“Definitely,” Barry said. “I mean, I’ve gone back in time before, but I’ve never actually traveled between dimensions.”

Snart laughed quietly. “He thinks--?”

Other Barry sighed. “Yeah, I remember this. I wasn’t...well.” He gave Snart a look that Barry couldn’t quite read, but there was definitely a smile involved. “You can understand why I would think this was a different dimension.”

Snart glanced around and nodded. He was also smiling.

There was too much smiling going on.

And--wait a minute.

“I’m sorry, did you say you _remember_ this?” he asked, giving Other Barry an incredulous look.

“Uh, yeahhh. So. You didn’t travel to another world, Barry.” It was weird hearing Other Barry address him like that. “You traveled in time. Into the future.”

Barry stared, his mouth hanging open just a little. “What?”

“This isn’t a different dimension, Barry. This is the future. What year are you in right now?”

“I...it’s 2016.”

“And here it’s 2023.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that this is my future, though. Each dimension could be on totally different timelines. Or one could be moving faster than the other! Just because it’s 2023 doesn’t mean…” but he trailed off because Other Barry was giving him a pitying look.

“But I remember this. I was you. I traveled through time and landed in the future and got all freaked because I saw myself with Len. I _remember_ it.”

“You remember.”

“Yes. It happened to me about seven years ago.”

Barry wanted to ask more questions, figure out what the hell had happened to get them to this point, but before he could say anything he got suddenly dizzy. He swayed to the side, prevented from falling only because Snart reached out a hand to steady him.

“Oh shit,” Other Barry said. “I remember this, too. He’s about to--”

And then Barry blacked out.

~~~

Barry woke up slowly. There was a quiet beeping noise right next to him and several soft voices floating his way.

“--god Michael wasn’t at home--”

“--sleeping with Lisa and the baby--”

“--you sure it’s a good idea--”

“--mess with the timeline--”

His head hurt too much to focus on the conversation. Instead he tried opening his eyes, squinting until they adjusted to the bright lights. He was lying on a hard bed, there was an IV attached to his arm, and he was clearly in S.T.A.R. Labs. The voices were coming from an adjoining room, which meant that he was alone. He took a minute to study his surroundings, but it didn’t really give him any clues about the future. It was just a bunch of equipment.

“Well good morning, Sleeping Beauty!”

Barry turned to look at the entrance to his little room, finding Cisco Ramon looking more or less the same as usual. That was comforting at least.

“What happened?” Barry asked him, propping himself up on his elbows.

“You passed out, man. The speedforce necessary to time travel tapped out your energy reserves. You really need to eat like _immediately_ after jumping next time.”

“ _Next time_?”

“Uh,” Cisco faltered, his eyes going a little too wide. “Hypothetically, I mean. Just in case you ever time travel again.”

Barry laughed. “Yeah. Sure. Thanks, Cisco.”

“Are you...doing okay with all this?” Cisco asked, coming to sit in a chair next to Barry’s cot.

“With time travel?” Barry sighed and dropped back against his pillows. “I mean, it’s weird that I came into the future, but it’s not like I haven’t done the whole time travel thing before.”

Cisco looked a little embarrassed, and Barry didn’t understand why until he spoke. “Yeah, I meant...how are you doing with the whole Cold thing?”

“Oh.” Barry was definitely blushing. “Well, honestly? I’m trying not to think about it too much.”

Cisco nodded but didn’t say anything else.

“I mean, I’ve always thought he was attractive. And he has been doing some heroic stuff lately. We even talked a couple times, although it usually started with him breaking into my home, so that’s kind of annoying.”

Cisco laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s probably his most annoying habit.”

“He still breaks into people’s houses?” Barry’s voice went a little higher than necessary.

“I think he wants us to remember that he’s a criminal. Even though he doesn’t pull heists and hasn’t actually stolen anything in several years, he likes the persona, you know? Captain Cold, badass supervillain.”

Barry snorted. He did have a bit of a flair for the dramatics, didn’t he?

“Honestly, Barry? None of us were all that surprised when you guys started dating. I don’t want to mess up the timeline so I won’t say more than that, but...yeah, it’s not nearly as weird as you’re thinking it is.”

And really, when Cisco said it Barry realized it was probably true. Snart was still a thief, but they had teamed up a couple more times and he _was_ traveling around saving people with Rip Torn or whatever his name was. And if he was being honest with himself, their exchanges had become less like fighting and a lot more like flirting over the last few months.

"Oh my god," Barry said, looking at Cisco with wide eyes. "You're right. It's totally not weird, is it?"

Cisco laughed and clapped his shoulder. "Not even a little, man."

Barry stared up at the ceiling, not sure how to process this new information. Maybe he would talk to Cisco about it. _His_ Cisco, when he got back home.

Speaking of which. “So, how do I get back home?”

“Ah! Well that’s the easy part. Barry-- _our_ Barry--will have to help you with that. You ready to get up?”

Barry sat up and looked at the IV with a shrug. “Yeah? I think I’m fine. Will Caitlin be mad if I take this out?”

“Oh, Caitlin’s not here. She and M--well, she’s on her honeymoon right now. Dr. Allen put the drip in and he’s not nearly as scary as Caitlin.”

Barry was going to ask who Caitlin had married, but then Cisco mentioned _Dr. Allen_ and Barry was distracted. “Wait, when you say Dr. Allen, do you mean--?”

“Hey, Slugger.”

Barry’s head snapped up to find his father standing in the doorway, the others all crowded behind him.

“Dad!” Barry said, laughing happily. He hardly ever saw his Dad these days--was he working with Team Flash in the future?

His dad came over and removed the IV, giving him a stern look. “You need to make sure you’re getting enough food, Barry. You can’t maintain the speedforce if you aren’t giving your body the energy it needs.”

Barry smiled sheepishly and said, “Sorry?” Then he pulled his father into a hug. “It’s really good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too, kiddo. Even though I see you all the time.” He laughed and pulled back, giving Barry a _look_. “This time travel stuff is pretty weird, you know.”

“Tell me about it,” Barry said, glancing over at Other Barry and Snart in the doorway.

“It’s actually pretty easy once you get used to it,” Other Barry said.

“Right now I think I just want to get home.” Barry hopped off the bed and strode over to Other Barry. “Cisco said you could help me with that?”

“That I can, my friend. Come on. We’ll need somewhere to run.”

Barry followed his older self, expecting to be led outside. Instead they went down to the particle accelerator, which made Barry a little nauseous. The last time he had run in here, bad things had happened.

Other Barry seemed to understand where his thoughts were taking him. “I know it’s kind of...hard to be down here. But it’s really the best place to build up the necessary speed.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.” Even weirder than being down here was being down here alone with his future self. Barry was seriously ready to get home. “Okay, so what exactly do I need to do?”

“Actually, it’s pretty easy. Mostly you just need to run. And...pay attention to the speedforce. That was how you got here in the first place, right? I remember it was the first night that I really felt _connected_ to it. Find that connection again and hold onto it. Visualize yourself back in the time and place you want to go and then just _go there_.”

Barry gave him a dubious look and Other Barry laughed. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I swear it works.”

“I guess it can’t hurt to try.”

Other Barry smiled at him, and just as Barry was about to take off, his future self reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Something wrong?” Barry asked.

“No, just…” Other Barry hesitated, scratching the back of his neck. “He’s not going to believe you at first. There’s a lot of...stuff in his past and he puts up this cold front, so he’s going to think there’s a catch. Just. Be persistent. You’ll wear him down eventually.”

Barry didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. It was still a little weird, honestly, but he _had_ been planning to talk to Snart when he got home, so he appreciated the advice from his future self. He nodded his thanks. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

And then he took off, speeding around and around the particle accelerator, feeling that indescribable crackle of the speedforce running through his veins. He visualized home, pictured S.T.A.R. Labs full of Cisco and Caitlin and Iris and...he wasn’t sure what made him do it, but he also saw Captain Cold there, scowling in the background, and--Heatwave? Why was Heatwave there? That was kind of bizarre. Then, before he knew it, he was there. In the exact scene he had been imagining. And that was when he realized that he hadn’t been imagining it at all, but rather _seeing_ it.

“Barry!” Iris was the first to notice him, and he suddenly had his arms full of his best friend.

Caitlin was smiling at him and Cisco, complete with a giant cup of orange soda, was asking him about time travel and the implications of changing the timeline by experiencing the future and Barry wanted to talk about it, he really did, but all he could do was watch as Captain Cold’s shoulders sagged in relief and Heatwave clapped him on the back.

“Snart got all freaked out when he couldn’t find you this morning,” Iris said in his ear. “I think he’s got a thing for you, Bar.”

Barry laughed quietly. “I think you’re right. I think I might have a thing for him, too.”

“Well _duh_ ,” Iris said, snorting. “You’ve been into him for like a year, Barry. Everyone knows it.”

“Except for me, apparently.”

“So? Go do something about it, you dork,” she said, pushing him toward the not-so-villainous villains in the corner of the room.

He shot her a glare but continued walking toward Cold, trying to seem casual.

“Everything okay?” he asked once he reached them.

“Peachy,” Snart said. “Glad to see you made it back to the present. Try not to run off again, Scarlet. Your newest meta nearly destroyed the city while you were gone.”

Heatwave snorted. “Did not. We took ‘em out just fine.”

Cold elbowed him in the gut.

“Hey, uh, can I ask you something?” Barry said to Cold, giving Heatwave a glance that clearly told him to _go away_. Luckily he took the hint and muttered something about checking in with the doctor before scurrying off.

“Well?” Snart asked once Heatwave was gone.

Barry let out a breath and decided to just plow forward. “Do you want to get coffee with me sometime?”

Snart just blinked at him. “What?”

“I just, uh--I was thinking maybe we could get coffee?”

“What’s your angle here, kid?”

“No angle! Just...coffee.”

There was something unreadable in the other man’s face. Barry hoped it was a good sign. But then his Cold mask was back and he rolled his eyes, pushing away from the wall he had been leaning against. “ _Mick_!” he called out, his voice sharp and impatient. “Let’s go!”

Barry tried not to let his mouth hang open. Well that was _rude_. He watched the two men leave the cortex without another word.

Iris appeared next to him again. “So? What happened?”

Barry sighed. “Nothing yet.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Bar.”

“It’s okay,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll get to him eventually. I guess I’m just gonna have to be persistent.”

**Author's Note:**

> I just can't help how much I love these Barry-travels-to-the-future fics. I'm not making any promises, but I have a feeling there might be more parts to this little verse. We'll see :)


End file.
